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vivdunstan) wrote2011-07-31 07:51 pm
vivdunstan) wrote2011-07-31 07:51 pm
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Books finished in July 2011
End of another month, and I've finished quite a few more books this month. I"m still keeping a record of them all in Goodreads, but thought I'd also jot down a few more detailed thoughts here.
Firstly I finished Our Mutual Friend by Charles DIckens. This took me ages to read - over 3 weeks - but I enjoyed it immensely. It's one of Dickens' darker novels, and I find the setting eminently satisfying. It was my second read of the book, but I look forward to rereading it again in future.
The BBC have recently republished six old Target Doctor Who novelisations. I bought all of them, to keep, but am also slowly reading them on my Kindle. First up was Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks. This is a Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) adventure, which has mostly been wiped in the archives, so it can't be watched again. Because it was broadcast before I was born (let alone when I started watching nearly 6 years later) I've never seen it. And I've never listened to an audio version. The story is fantastic though: set in the Himalayas, with snow, and monks, and, of course, Yetis. What's not to like? I really wish I'd seen the original.
Next was the Dork Tower anthology Go Dork Go. These are comic strip collections, which touch on geek culture and roleplaying. I find them very satisfying. Some of the series are more episodic, but I prefer the collections - like this one - which tend to have more standalone strips. I was reading it each night before bed, and it would make me chuckle most times. Dork Tower strips can be read freely online, and are syndicated through to LJ.
I've had quite a few pet cats over the years, starting from a half wildcat when I was very little, and ending with rather a grumpy but very adorable black and white stray cat we called Bilbo. So I'm naturally fond of cats. But I've never read stories about them. So I was intrigued to read Chris Pascoe's A Cat Called Birmingham, which is an account of his rather accident-prone pussy. In places this was excellent, very funny, almost painfully so. Some of the things Birmingham gets up to are quite incredible. But then at other places the author would tell stories of other animals, or his own life, and these never matched up to Birmingham's exploits. So rather a mixed bag.
Conjugal Rites is the third in the Brenda and Effie series of books by writer Paul Magrs. These are gothic comedies, set in Whitby. It's hard to say more than that without spoiling them. But I find them very satisfying, and this was possibly the best of the series yet. The pacing was spot on, the plot entertaining and not predictable, and I also liked the way it reused elements from previous books in the series. There are two more Brenda and Effie books in print, with - I believe - one last one to follow after that. I look forward to reading the remaining ones.
When the BBC broadcast Our Mutual Friend in 1998 they released a "Viewer's Guide" which people could obtain at the time. After finishing the book again I reread this, Charles Dickens: Our Mutual Friend: A Viewer's Guide. It is slim, only 46 pages in total, but is full of detail about the novel and the times it was set in, and it enriches the reading and/or viewing experience quite a lot.
I'm nearing the end of my Open University art history course about Renaissance art. So I finished the latest course book this month, Viewing Renaissance Art edited by Kim W. Woods, Carol M. Richardson and Angeliki Lymberopoulou. I'm afraid that this was the least satisfying so far for me. The chapters were very uneven, and contributed little to the overall theme. I also found that they were frequently let-downs, like the chapter on Renaissance Bibliomania, which turned out to be far more narrow than its title suggested, and really only examined the topic of illustrated books of hours. Despite this my independent essay at the end of the course (in place of an exam) is going to use "viewing" as its core theme. But I haven't been inspired for this in any way by this course book.
I have a backlog of new Doctor Who books to read. I don't usually buy the new current Doctor novels, but sometimes the releases are particularly strong, as with the latest batch of three 11th Doctor books, which I have bought for my Kindle. The first one I read was Paradox Lost by George Mann. This author is known for his steampunk novels, though I haven't read them. There was definitely a steampunk vibe to this story, but that was a good thing for me. The writing was strong, the setting well conceived, and the essential sci-fi idea at the heart of the story well executed. And now I want to read the author's own steampunk series of books.
My final completed book was a nostalgic return to childhood. Paddington Here and Now by Michael Bond is the 50th anniversary Paddington book, written by its original author. It was an easy read, highly amusing, and the illustrations throughout (even on my Kindle) were a delight. Sadly it seems to be the only Paddington book available on the Kindle, quite a different situation from the Wombles for example, where the recently rereleased books are mostly Kindled too.
Firstly I finished Our Mutual Friend by Charles DIckens. This took me ages to read - over 3 weeks - but I enjoyed it immensely. It's one of Dickens' darker novels, and I find the setting eminently satisfying. It was my second read of the book, but I look forward to rereading it again in future.
The BBC have recently republished six old Target Doctor Who novelisations. I bought all of them, to keep, but am also slowly reading them on my Kindle. First up was Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks. This is a Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) adventure, which has mostly been wiped in the archives, so it can't be watched again. Because it was broadcast before I was born (let alone when I started watching nearly 6 years later) I've never seen it. And I've never listened to an audio version. The story is fantastic though: set in the Himalayas, with snow, and monks, and, of course, Yetis. What's not to like? I really wish I'd seen the original.
Next was the Dork Tower anthology Go Dork Go. These are comic strip collections, which touch on geek culture and roleplaying. I find them very satisfying. Some of the series are more episodic, but I prefer the collections - like this one - which tend to have more standalone strips. I was reading it each night before bed, and it would make me chuckle most times. Dork Tower strips can be read freely online, and are syndicated through to LJ.
I've had quite a few pet cats over the years, starting from a half wildcat when I was very little, and ending with rather a grumpy but very adorable black and white stray cat we called Bilbo. So I'm naturally fond of cats. But I've never read stories about them. So I was intrigued to read Chris Pascoe's A Cat Called Birmingham, which is an account of his rather accident-prone pussy. In places this was excellent, very funny, almost painfully so. Some of the things Birmingham gets up to are quite incredible. But then at other places the author would tell stories of other animals, or his own life, and these never matched up to Birmingham's exploits. So rather a mixed bag.
Conjugal Rites is the third in the Brenda and Effie series of books by writer Paul Magrs. These are gothic comedies, set in Whitby. It's hard to say more than that without spoiling them. But I find them very satisfying, and this was possibly the best of the series yet. The pacing was spot on, the plot entertaining and not predictable, and I also liked the way it reused elements from previous books in the series. There are two more Brenda and Effie books in print, with - I believe - one last one to follow after that. I look forward to reading the remaining ones.
When the BBC broadcast Our Mutual Friend in 1998 they released a "Viewer's Guide" which people could obtain at the time. After finishing the book again I reread this, Charles Dickens: Our Mutual Friend: A Viewer's Guide. It is slim, only 46 pages in total, but is full of detail about the novel and the times it was set in, and it enriches the reading and/or viewing experience quite a lot.
I'm nearing the end of my Open University art history course about Renaissance art. So I finished the latest course book this month, Viewing Renaissance Art edited by Kim W. Woods, Carol M. Richardson and Angeliki Lymberopoulou. I'm afraid that this was the least satisfying so far for me. The chapters were very uneven, and contributed little to the overall theme. I also found that they were frequently let-downs, like the chapter on Renaissance Bibliomania, which turned out to be far more narrow than its title suggested, and really only examined the topic of illustrated books of hours. Despite this my independent essay at the end of the course (in place of an exam) is going to use "viewing" as its core theme. But I haven't been inspired for this in any way by this course book.
I have a backlog of new Doctor Who books to read. I don't usually buy the new current Doctor novels, but sometimes the releases are particularly strong, as with the latest batch of three 11th Doctor books, which I have bought for my Kindle. The first one I read was Paradox Lost by George Mann. This author is known for his steampunk novels, though I haven't read them. There was definitely a steampunk vibe to this story, but that was a good thing for me. The writing was strong, the setting well conceived, and the essential sci-fi idea at the heart of the story well executed. And now I want to read the author's own steampunk series of books.
My final completed book was a nostalgic return to childhood. Paddington Here and Now by Michael Bond is the 50th anniversary Paddington book, written by its original author. It was an easy read, highly amusing, and the illustrations throughout (even on my Kindle) were a delight. Sadly it seems to be the only Paddington book available on the Kindle, quite a different situation from the Wombles for example, where the recently rereleased books are mostly Kindled too.